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The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
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Manhattan Project History
Early Government Support
Britain to U.S.: "Quit Dragging Your Feet"
| "If each necessary step requires ten months of deliberation, then obviously it will not be possible to carry out this development efficiently."; Leo Szilard in a letter to Alexander Sachs on the sluggishness of America's bomb effort. |
| "What I should like would be to have quite a small committee to sit soon to advise what ought to be done, who should do it, and where it should be done, and I suggest that you, Thomson, and say Blackett, would form a sufficient nucleus for such a committee" - Sir Henry Tizard; Letter to Mark Oliphant after studying the Frisch-Peierls Memoranda; 1940. |
| "If Congress knew the true history of the atomic energy project, I have no doubt that it would create a special medal to be given to meddling foreigners for distinguished services, and Dr. [Mark] Oliphant would be the first to receive one."; Leo Szilard; Speaking after the war and referring to Britain's "manipulation" of America's government officials to put the bomb effort on a "fast track." |
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In 1941, no one had more to lose than Britain. Although the United States was supporting England's efforts "behind the scenes", England was facing Hitler and the Nazi threat alone. Therefore, it is not surprising that the "sense of urgency" lacking in the United States would have to come across the Atlantic from England. It appeared by 1941 that the British, at least, knew where they were going. Although Henry Tizard was skeptical himself, others felt that the development of a nuclear weapon could "win the war." Consequently, it was Mark Oliphant who finally goaded the American program over the top. Oliphant flew to the United States in late August in an unheated bomber to ostensibly consult about the radar program but was actually charged with inquiring why the United States was ignoring the MAUD Committee's findings. Oliphant stated the following: "The minutes and reports had been sent to Lyman Briggs (Director of the Uranium Committee) and we were puzzled to receive virtually no comment. I called on Briggs in Washington, only to find out that this inarticulate and unimpressive man had put the reports in his safe and had not shown them to members of his committee. I was amazed and distressed." Oliphant then met with the Uranium Committee. Samuel K. Allison was a new committee member, a talented experimentalist and a protege of Arthur Compton at the University of Chicago. Oliphant "came to a meeting," Allison recalls, "and said 'bomb' in no uncertain terms. He told us we must concentrate every effort on the bomb and said we had no right to work on power plants or anything but the bomb. The bomb would cost 25 million dollars, he said, and Britain didn't have the money or the manpower, so it was up to us." Allison was surprised that Briggs had kept the committee in the dark. To further champion his cause, Oliphant contacted Ernest Lawrence at Berkeley. After visiting with Lawrence and receiving his support, Oliphant visited with both Conant and Bush and then went to see Fermi before returning to Birmingham, England. Oliphant's heroic efforts are generally felt to be the "catalyst" that finally pushed the American bomb effort over the top. |
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